Category Archives: Bible Study

Linear or Cyclical 

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This post is a little different from my usual type of study. In Linear or Cyclical, I want to know how you see God’s interaction with His people and humanity. Now, here is the catch-you need to explain your answer by giving an example or stating a biblical reference. 

The question is this-Does God move us/history (His Story) along in a line, going from point A to point B, or are His movements with us in a cycle or spiral (I will say an upward spiral)? Please note that I said His directing us. Not what we are to do before Him. So, saying or using the word straight may not work because in the Bible that normally means level not linear.

I will throw out an example and not give an opinion about it. In Genesis, there is a garden. Revelation also has a garden, with some of the same elements in it as the first one-a river, and trees of life. But there are gardens in-between those two. A linear path or a cyclical one, which is it?

You may leave a comment. Exactly how all of this will be reported, I am still working with some options. 

Exchange

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Exchange is the result of my wife commenting on Romans 1:23-26 and how far culture’s thinking has drifted, again. She noted the three things society has exchanged for Biblical standards in Romans 1. Part of this study looks at the two different words that are used for exchange in those verses-allasso and metallasso.

Some Background-The people of God had changed gods and suppressed the truth before Paul wrote to the Romans. (KJV and NIV use the words exchange and changed to express this idea.)

Psalm 106:20, Jeremiah 2:11, and Hosea 4:7 all use the phrase-They “exchanged their glorious God” for a man-made image (I use the NIV.). This problem started with Aaron in the wilderness. Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12:28, also did this with the Northern Tribes. Several of David’s grandsons also committed this sin.

Romans 1

Paul is not being politically correct or woke when he writes this letter. Anyone who hides the truth of God is under God’s wrath. God loves us but that is tempered by the fact that he loves righteousness and you need to listen to Him.

Verse 23 expresses the above references. Verses 15 to 22 condemns people who think they are wise, but they want knowledge, not God or His life. The verb is allasso (Strong’s G 236), they change or alter God, normally to fit their wants.

Verses 25+26 use the word metallasso (Strong’s G3337) as the word exchange. The meta prefix amps up the meaning quite a bit. Meta means they have taken their actions past or further than God. Verse 21 is scary in the fact that these people knew God and did not care for His truth. So, they became wiser than God and went past Him. Okay, that is dangerous territory because it does not exist, except in your mind. Verse 25-they exchanged God for a lie and worshipped what they wanted. In today’s context that usually means they worship themselves and or their knowledge. Verse 26 completes the downward spiral they go past (exchange) God’s plan and activities for ones they choose.

  1. Leave God and worship anything or anyone else.
  2. Choose or create a lie to justify #1.
  3. Do whatever you want because you went past God and missed His plan and started doing whatever feels good to your hormones. 

A few other Greek words

Paul, as a Christian, wanted people to metanoia. Go beyond your thoughts and go to God’s thoughts. When you do not metanoia you may go to paranoia.

Allasso is also used in 1 Corinthians 15:52-at the last trump, we will be allasso and be with Jesus forever.

The Father loves people. You are special to Him if you change your thoughts and follow His. Isaiah 43:4 (NIV) shows that He will exchange other people for you and give whole nations for your life.

The Conclusion-exchange your ways for His. 

Chazon, Ouai, and Oy 

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If chazon, ouai, and oy are strange words to you, don’t feel bad. They were to me. Their English translations are frequently used in the church. Chazon (Hebrew) or vision is the one that set this study into motion. “Without a vision”, Proverbs 29:18 in the KJV has been the key verse in many sermons. Well, this weekend I looked into seeing a vision. Doing a New Testament word search left me empty. So, I changed to the word dream and found no help from the biblical context. To be fair, vision and dream often get run together in the same sermon, but in the New Testament, those words and our English ideas hit a rough spot. Vision and dreams are supernatural acts that instruct people on a topic. They do not support the idea of your desires and goals and where YOU want to be in life.

The words purpose and calling, which are God-ordained concepts, should be used instead. The way ministers preach most sermons, the concepts of purpose and calling, get mixed with visions and dreams. 

Okay, let’s look at chazon. It is true we need a vision or things will fall apart. In the early part of Matthew, John the Baptist and Jesus are preaching the good news of the kingdom. What they taught was repent, for the kingdom of God is near. The kingdom being near is the chazon they gave the people. They preached that to give the masses hope. Jesus did miracles to prove just how near the kingdom had come to them. The mindset of the disciples and the crowds seemed to be that the Messiah would lead an army and conquer Rome. Psalm 110 and 45 are just a few places where that idea came from. Israel had battle-fighting messiahs, but they did not heal the sick and feed thousands or preach repentance. When these messiahs died, their movements faded away and stopped (Acts 5:35).

A chazon from God leads you to your purpose in life and opens the door to your calling. A dream from God may lead your thinking in this process.
Now to add in the words ouai, and oy; ouai is Greek for woe and oy/hoy is Hebrew for woe. How does woe connect with vision? The Father and Son are protective of their kingdom. Because the Father has a purpose for His kingdom, I believe He will defend the people He has called to fulfill that purpose. The post –God’s Love and Let God Arise talk about this topic. While studying for a new series called The Sermons on the Mounts, I read Matthew 23. That passage contains the seven woes for the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. The way we translate woe and the context people use for that word seemed strange to me. Oy and hoy in Isaiah and the other prophets and ouai in the Book of Revelation do not fit what many try to put in Jesus’ warnings. In these warnings, the weight of woe is not a statement of you may be sorry, or too bad you did your actions. They imply a judgment is going to fall on you. For some reason, a large part of Christianity has grown away from the idea that Jesus is a king that leads an army. The world definitely does not like a strong, in command, conquering Jesus. To answer my question -you will receive woe (in this life) if you come against God’s vision or plan for His Church.

On Tuesday of Holy Week, Jesus made these pronouncements-He cursed the fig tree (man’s works to be acceptable before God), the seven woes of Matthew 23, and prophesied that the Temple would come down. While in the Temple, He also told (through parable) the leaders of the nation they had to change or they would get thrown out of the Kingdom of God. Matthew 11 has the message of woe to several cities in Galilee and Luke 11 has a similar list of woes to Matthew 23. These woes added to the leaders’ anger at Jesus.

Did Jesus speak these woes twice, maybe? I feel Luke put together the stories he heard into something that Theophilus needed to read. Luke 11 to 18 has many of the same teachings as Matthew 21 to 26. That is not a statement against the book from Luke, rather, it shows his ability to communicate to his audience. Matthew and Mark had been eyewitnesses, so I tend to follow their timeline.  

Chazon, ouai, and oy are powerful words. Please use the reference websites I listed below for more details. I have no associations with any of those sites; they are references. So, reader beware.

Chazon-https://www.hebrewversity.com/what-is-shabbat-chazon/

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2377.htm

WORD STUDY – VISION OR JUST SEEING – ראה

ouai-https://franknelte.net/article.php?article_id=363

Scrolls

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This post on scrolls will highlight several important ones that are found in Scripture and one that may have been given to several people. (My imagination may have taken over.) The number of Bible verses that have the word scroll in it depends on which translation of Scripture you read. The numbers can go from in the fifty’s to well over one hundred-I offer no explanation. See the article below for information about the Torah, it is an interesting article.

Since scrolls were the books of the day it is no surprise that things people wanted to remember were written on them. Here are a few examples-

  • Malachi 3:16 (add this one to your favorite 3:16 verses) God had this one written in Heaven. He purposed to remember the people that talked right about Him.
  • Isaiah 30:7-9 This scroll is to be an everlasting witness against people who refuse to listen to God’s instructions.
  • Exodus 17:14 The scroll is for Joshua, so he remembers to blot out the Amalekites.

Kings in Israel were to write a copy of the Law. It is not recorded that any of them did.

  • Deuteronomy 17:18 is the original command before Israel ever thought of crowning a king.
  • 1 Samuel 10:25 has an unhappy prophet writing down what the king’s duties were and he puts it before the Lord.

A strange use for a scroll is in Numbers 5:23. Curses would be written on it because a husband thought his wife had been unfaithful. The writing would then be washed into a cup and the woman had to drink it. Her innocence was determined by what happened to her. 

Isaiah 8, 29, 30, and 34 uses scrolls for various reasons that are object lessons. They speak against Israel of that day.

Zachariah 5 has a flying scroll. The prophet is having a vision that condemns thieves and those who swear falsely. Besides flying and being very large this scroll is written on both sides. I am not sure if this was a common practice, but a Torah is only written on one side. What was written on both sides was the tablets of the Law (according to tradition). Zachariah was part of the team that got the Second Temple built.

Jesus in Revelation 5. This is the scroll that seems to be in several places in the Bible. In Revelation, only Jesus can undo the seals that are sealing this scroll. (This is where my imagination kicks in.) I can see this same scroll with Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. To be fair John may have a part in this one but he gets his in Revelations 10.a

John, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have a similar experience with scrolls/God’s word. All of them eat or taste them, they start out sweet and then turn bitter. Jeremiah (15) and Ezekiel (2:9-3:3) are not to surrender to the people and their attempts to sway the prophets. The last two are not happy about what happens to them as the bitterness is rooted in physical problems. Ezekiel’s scroll is written on both sides. These two prophets took the message to their own people. Ezekiel has the people being thorns and briers and scorpions. (I just did a post on thorns.)

This scroll is not the one that Jehoiakim (Chapter 36) burned but one in Jeremiah 51, the curses that overtake Babylon. Yes, Jeremiah threw it in the river but may I purpose a spiritual counterpart to that one. (There is no proof of that in Scripture.) Ezekiel gets the same spiritual scroll and continues the writing-Chapter 3. Finally, Daniel has his part in Chapter 12 and is ordered to seal it up until the time is right. Only Jesus, because of His obedience to going to the cross, is worthy to undo the seals.

What binds these three prophets together is when they lived and their witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and the deporting of Judah and Jerusalem. I would go so far as to say that the scroll was passed on after each prophet died-Jeremiah was first followed, by Ezekiel, and finally Daniel as an old man who sealed it for Jesus to open.

John in Revelation 10 gets handed a little scroll. Like the first one, it is sweet in the mouth but turns bitter when it hits the stomach. This scroll is connected to the mystery of God (10:7) that is revealed in the end times. That mystery deals with Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 3:6 and others) being made one and becoming the Bride of Christ. 10:11 is actually an encouragement to John, he is told that he still has work to do. A reason I think it is a different scroll, it is little.

Disclaimer- Scroll is a STUDY, not doctrine. There is still a lot to study about scrolls but this was a fun start.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/torah-scroll/ a good reference for the making of the Torah scroll.

Thorns and Thistles and the Tree of Knowledge

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I will get to the point right away with thorns, thistles, and the Tree of Knowledge. Thorns by themselves are a sticky subject, but I will include thistles and the Tree. The three big references to thorns are where we get stuck in our thinking: Genesis 3:17, the original curse, the crown the Romans put on Jesus after beating Him, and Paul’s messenger of Satan in 2 Corinthians 12. But there are fifty-four verses with thorns in the Bible. (That number stays consistent in the various versions.) When we add in briers, nettles, thistles, tares, and weeds, the picture of problem plants in the Eastern Mediterranean expands and covers our field of study quite well.

The Tree of Knowledge had a good and evil component to it. The plants that are part of the curse of man’s greed in wanting knowledge and not life also have a good and evil/painful component. Some useful flora with thorns are roses, citrus fruit, and blackberries. In the Holy Land and in the Bible, they used thorn plants for whipping people, burning to cook food, and making barriers you did not want to go through. They use up a lot of water and seem to grow quickly, so they will damage the crops.

Thistles can have magnificent flowers, medicinal properties, and are eaten by humans and animals. The spines are painful if you disrespect the plant and get careless around it. (Israel put them on postage stamps.)

Off-topic, slightly.

Genesis 3 was a real eye-opener for Eve and Adam. Death entered the Garden, and they started dying. They found out serpents could move with no legs. Eve would discover pain and child-bearing. Desire and authority rushed into her life. Thorns and thistles were to be a complication in food production. Adam received pain because of them. That death entailed decomposition. How many of these concepts did they know about before greed and lust won their thinking?

Metaphors 

Exodus 22:6 is the initial statement of an issue with thorns-they dry out and become a fire hazard. (The things that get into your skin will burn you up.) Numbers 33:55 is the first usage of thorns as a metaphor for someone causing you pain. Gideon in Judges 8:7 promises to apply them and briers for torture and inflicting pain. Okay, to employ them for that is difficult because they must be gathered, and holding them requires serious precautions.

These plant protectors certainly are a proven problem (evil) and a teaching tool (good). If you have been a Christian for very long, you have heard many sermons about them. Some people spend a lot of time trying to figure out what type of thorn you are, and why you cause them so much pain. There is also a lot of moaning about the thorn poking them, and how they have to endure it in life.

Jesus 

Metaphorically, Judas Iscariot was a thorn in Jesus. Peter may have been a thistle at times (LOL). The thorny crown is possibly the only thing Jesus wore on the cross. So, with the nails, the Roman scourge, and spear, they released the blood that covers our sin (s) before the Father. 

Paul 

Steven Furtick has used Paul’s thorn in several sermons (September/October 2012), these in part, spurred this study. He did a great job with the topic.

It seems right, yet wrong, to always assume that Paul’s thorn was a bodily ailment. (A mental or spiritual issue can easily lead to physical pains.) Many try to make it an eye problem caused by the blindness from his conversion as the source of Satan’s angel against him. (Please note that the thorn was not from God.) Many try to claim a thorn as great as his. Paul got that thorn so he would not be conceited. Do you really want one like that? You probably never got an amazing revelation while in Heaven. I will also bet that writing a good part of the New Testament and supervising many churches are also not in your resume. Get the point, we deal with things and they cause troubles for us, but why compare them with his thorn. Paul’s message from this-stop complaining and ask for a deeper understanding of grace.

My Take

Thorns and briers are painful. Thorns and briers cause issues. If you elect to mess with one of those bushes, you will most likely be in pain. Their fruit or flowers may tempt and possibly be worth the discomfort you judge. The suffering is the same if someone else sticks you with one, or you find it by accident. Shoes and lawn tractor tires that found them in the grass had to be fixed. Cutting them down and burning them are the best ways of getting rid of them.

Thistles can come with beautiful flowers, and the plant has a strange type of attractiveness if all you do is look at it. If you allow a thistle to stay in your yard, it will create many more of them once they mature. Get them out of your ground early in their life. Let them grow and digging them out later can still cause pain, don’t leave the root or a stub. 

Isaiah 55:13 does offer hope that the curse of thorns and thistles will be reversed. 

Knowledge is good and can be bad. Thorns and thistles are bad even if the plant produces something useful.